Thea Musgrave has been awarded a CBE in the New Year's Honours List. The CBE (standing for Commander of the Order of the British Empire) is one of the highest of the awards issued by the Queen on 31 December each year. Thea Musgrave, resident in the USA for the last 28 years, is regarded on both sides of the Atlantic as one of the foremost contemporary British composers - particularly in the field of opera. She is currently working on her tenth opera, commissioned by New Orleans Opera to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase (when the French sold the entire Louisiana Territory to the USA for a paltry sum). The opera will premiere in autumn 2003. Meanwhile, Evelyn Glennie's recording of her marimba concerto 'Journey Through a Japanese Landscape' will be released later this year on the BIS label, and Clarinet Classics' recordings of her clarinet music (with Victoria Soames Samek) with one disc to be released in March (in conjunction with a concert at the Purcell Room on March 12), and a second due for release in October 2002.
